Top pick for new HKU vice-chancellor faces questions over research links to US military

In online article, academic Ying Chan asks if Chinese American scientist Zhang Xiang will give up research work in US if given university role in Hong Kong

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Professor Zhang Xiang talking to HKU alumni. Photo: Billy Wong

Published: 1:07pm, 15 Dec 2017Updated: 7:58pm, 15 Dec 2017

A journalism professor who once challenged the ability of academic Peter Mathieson to head the University of Hong Kong turned her attention to his likely successor on Thursday, asking if he intended to continue receiving military funding from United States for his research.

Information available on a university website shows that Chinese American scientist Zhang Xiang, who is expected to be named the next HKU vice-chancellor on Friday, received funding support from the US army and air force research offices for his invention of the world’s first “invisibility cloak”.

Ying Chan, former director of HKU’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre, asked if Zhang Xiang’s funding from the US military would lead to conflicts of interest in the future. Photo: David Wong

On Thursday night, Ying Chan, former director of HKU’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre, questioned in her online commentary whether Zhang would safeguard academic freedom and institutional autonomy at the university if he continued to seek funding from the US government and the Chinese Ministry of Education.

A spokesman for the Materials Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory told the Post: “Zhang Xiang stepped down as Materials Sciences Division director on July 1, 2016.” But Zhang’s personal profile on the school website still says he is the director, and it is uncertain whether he continues to have any role in the lab’s research.

Zhang met with alumni members at about noon on Friday. The university council will make a final decision the same afternoon.

Zhang is expected to replace the incumbent, Mathieson, who resigned and is leaving by January 2018. The selection process has taken 11 months, compared to two years for Mathieson.